DIE STANDING

As a revolutionary who co-founded the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1968, Elmer Dixon wore a beret, a leather jacket, and a holster holding a loaded gun.Today, as president of Executive Diversity Services, Dixon continues his lifetime mission as an agent for change within the board rooms and auditoriums of some of America's top corporations.He is one of the most sought-after leaders in the field of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and demand for his services has tripled since the social justice protests began in 2020.Dixon has led his Seattle-based company's teams in training people in more than 200 companies that include Microsoft, United Airlines, The MacArthur Foundation, Pepsico, Goodwill, JCPenney, and many more. The scope of a single training is vast, according to this testimonial by Vickie Pryor, Manager of Onboard Service Training for the world's largest air carrier, United Airlines: "EDS trained 38 managers to partner with 38 EDS trainers in order to provide Diversity Awareness training for over 16,000 flight attendants in seven cities and three countries. After training, 91% of participants said they had learned something they could apply to their work performance immediately." Dixon's training had similar success when EDS partnered with PepsiCo to conduct a top-down, three-level educational process aimed at developing an inclusive organizational culture. This provided training for more than 65,000 employees and managers. Dixon draws from his life-on-the-line commitment to human rights during the Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, to instruct and inspire people in corporate America as well as on college campuses and in organizations around the world, about how to create and sustain Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.Starting in 1968, he was a Black Panther Party leader for 16 years, at times living and working in a bulletproof bunker with an arsenal of weapons to protect against constant threats from government-sanctioned violence that killed many Black activists-including Panthers leader Fred Hampton, as shown in the recent movie Judas and the Black Messiah-during the 1960s and 1970s.All the while, as the Party expanded to chapters in 68 cities with thousands of members, Dixon worked to nurture and protect the Black community in Seattle. He oversaw programs that included: the children's free breakfast program, a health clinic that still exists, a free groceries program for families, and armed patrols to protect Black people from police violence.Dixon is an annual guest lecturer at JAMK University of Applied Sciences in Jyvaskyla, Finland on topics related to Strategic Diversity Management, Cross Cultural Competence and Team Development. He has taught regularly at Espeme, an undergraduate program of Edhec Business School in Lille and Nice.As a member of SIETAR Global-an organization that facilitates communication and respect between and among people of different cultures to improve intercultural relations-Dixon speaks regularly at events and on university campuses around the world. He has visited more than 40 countries.A former body builder, Elmer also volunteers with community with organizations serving young people from a range of cultures. He also enjoys spending time with his family, speaking to schoolchildren, watching movies, and traveling.